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Minister reaches recruitment goal target

Rosie Winterton confronted the BBC and Dentistry magazine last week with news that the Government has more than met its target to recruit 1,000 more dentists this year.

Speaking at the Institute of Dentistry at Queen Mary, University of London, the Health Minister said; ‘We’ve recruited another 1,450 dentists to the NHS, and we also said we’d train more dentists. We have started training another 189, exceeding our target by 10%.’

She added; ‘We know there are still problems for NHS dentists but we’ve taken them off the drill and fill treadmill by introducing a better contract.’

The contract will enable dentists to take on new patients, continued Winterton, and by offering a guaranteed salary for three years, dentistry is more attractive than ever. ‘I don’t think what we are offering is a bad offer.’

When asked what her message is to dentists who are refusing to sign the contract because they find it inflexible and ‘an act of political vandalism’, she said; ‘I hope the dentists are talking to their PCTs because then they will find out the benefits.’On the subject of child-only lists, Winterton was clear. ‘We will not be preventing child-only lists if that’s what the PCTs want, but if dentists decide to leave the NHS then the PCTs will have the money to recruit other dentists.’

Dentists are trained at the public’s expense and people expect them to work on the NHS, the Health Minister said.

‘We are doing everything we can to ensure the NHS appeals and this is why we have to highlight the changes we’re offering, and under the new contract, dentists will have more time and the public want to see this. We have a long way to go but having met our recruitment target, it’s a good start.’

She concluded; ‘We made a commitment last year to recruit new dentists and we have. We have also invested £268m into NHS dentistry. I’m not saying that today is the answer to the problem, but what I am saying is that there’s never been a better time to work in dentistry and we will continue with the recruitment process.’